546 LEOPOLD VON RANKE. 



which made an impression upon me." Ranke, however, developed 

 Niebuhr's critical method, and eliminated certain faults. "While an 

 admirable critic of sources, Niebuhr read into his version of Roman 

 history a variety of moral and philosophical views unwarranted by the 

 existing evidence; while undermining ancient traditions, he built up 

 new structures upon unsafe foundations. From fragments of truth he 

 undertook to construct the whole truth by a somewhat fanciful and 

 imaginative process. Ranke, on the other hand, determined to hold 

 strictly to the facts of history, to preach no sermon, to point no moral, 

 to adorn no tale, but to tell the simple historic truth. His sole am- 

 bition was to narrate things as they really were, " wie es eigentlich 

 gewesen." Truth and objectivity were Ranke's highest aims. In 

 his view, history is not for entertainment or edification, but for instruc- 

 tion. He would not tolerate inventions, and mere fancies or assump- 

 tions. He did not believe it the historian's province to point out 

 divine providences in human history, still less to proclaim that history 

 is a Weltgericht. AVithout presuming to be a moral censor, Ranke 

 tried to bring historic truth in its purity before the world. He culti- 

 vated withal an artistic style, always choosing a form of expression 

 which rose above the trivial and the commonplace. In this respect 

 he was influenced not merely by classical models, but by the style of 

 Johannes von Miiller. To avoid such false coloriufjas had been civen 

 to history by Sir Walter Scott and writers of the Romantic School, 

 was one of Ranke's favorite ideas. Thus the weakness as well as the 

 strength of other men were educating influences in the development 

 of Leopold von Ranke. 



His first book was written at Frankfurt on the Oder, Avhither he 

 was called in 1818, to be a teacher in the F'rankfurt Gymnasium, or 

 classical school. The book was published in 1824, when Ranke was 

 twenty-nine years old. It is the best introduction to a study of 

 Ranke's writings, for, as the writer himself said in later life, it consti- 

 tutes the foreground of modern history and contains a preparation for 

 most of the later work of the author. His principles of historical 

 criticism and his ideas ol" history are there clearly stated, and the book 

 is still regarded in Germany as the best general exposition of Ranke's 

 method. 



His book was called a " History of the Latin and Teutonic Nations." 

 The narrative portion has been translated into English since Rauke'a 

 death by Ash worth, the translator of Gneist. The work is accessi- 

 ble to any English reader in Bohn's Standard Library, although the 

 critical appendix to the original work, Ranke's " Kritik neuerer Ge- 



